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DEL.ICIO.USTournament has offered some sweet stats so far
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The NCAA tournament is a numbers game: 65 minus 49 equals 16, some of them more imposing than others but all with a fighting chance. Counting down the Sweet 16, not necessarily in order of sweetness:
1 — Homegrown Kentuckians in Western Kentucky’s starting lineup. The one, Ty Rogers of Eddyville, made the tournament’s signature shot — the 3-pointer at the overtime buzzer to beat Drake in Round 1.
2 — Technical fouls incurred by Stanford coach Trent Johnson in the first half of the Cardinal’s Round 2 game against Marquette. He became the first coach ejected from an NCAA game since Bob Huggins in 2003.
3 — Free throws missed by Texas swingman Damion James in the final 60 seconds of its nervous Round 2 defeat of Miami. The three misses helped the Hurricanes slash a 16-point deficit to two in the span of four minutes.
4 — Overnight margin of UCLA’s shaky Round 2 victory over Texas A&M. The score was reset to an even shakier 51-49 the next day when officials announced Russell Westbrook’s breakaway dunk came after the buzzer.
5 — Years since Kansas has reached the Final Four. Bill Self took over for Roy Williams in 2003 and has lost twice in Round 1, twice more in regional finals. With a tepid Midwest field remaining, he’d better win this time.
6 — West Virginia sixth man Joe Mazzulla nearly had a triple-double against Duke. Asked if Mazzulla was better than he’d expected, Mike Krzyzewski said: “He was better than Bob [Huggins] expected. Otherwise he’d be starting.”
7 — Trips to the Sweet 16 for Michigan State over the past 11 years. This one came courtesy of a Round 2 victory over Big East champ Pitt that was so comprehensive it didn’t seem like an upset.
8 — Xavier victories vs. Huggins when he coached crosstown rival Cincinnati. Counting its win against Kansas State last season, Xavier is 9-8 against Huggins, whose West Virginia team it faces tonight.
9 — Points North Carolina ran off to open its Round 2 defeat of Arkansas. Take away that 9-0 lead, and the Heels would still have won by 22. They’ve won two NCAA games by an aggregate 70 points and have yet to trail.
10 — Assists by Memphis point guard Derrick Rose in his first two NCAA games. According to NBAdraft.net, the freshman stands to be the second player taken (after Michael Beasley of Kansas State) in June.
11 — Louisville players who scored in the Cardinals’ Round 2 rout of Oklahoma. The 11 included substitute center Terrance Farley, who managed to miss a free throw wide right, prompting Rick Pitino to blame the wind.
12 — Consecutive games won by Wisconsin, which hasn’t lost since Feb. 9. Over those dozen games, the Badgers have yielded 60 points only twice and have held four opponents, Michigan State among them, under 50.
13 — NCAA games won by Villanova as a lower seed, the most by any school since seedings were implemented in 1979. Only one of those has come this year: In Round 2 the 12th-seeded Wildcats dispatched No. 13 Siena.
14 — Points scored in two NCAA games by Tennessee’s Chris Lofton, the SEC’s all-time leading 3-point shooter. Lofton had five points against American, nine against Butler. He hurt his ankle in the latter game.
15 — First-half points scored by Stephen Curry in Davidson’s two NCAA victories. He had a fairly astonishing 55 in the second halves against Gonzaga and Georgetown, making him the breakout star of Rounds 1 and 2.
16+1 — Baskets that Washington State has yielded in its past 60 minutes. The Cougars held Winthrop to four second-half hoops in Round 1 and limited Notre Dame to 13 field goals in the entirety of Round 2.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC, UGA/SEC
Comments
By Judi
March 27, 2008 8:48 AM | Link to this
I hope CBS in its infinite wisdom shows more than 5-10 minutes of the UNC/Wash St. game tonight, even if it becomes a runaway. Most viewers in Atlanta are not interested in seeing Siena/Oregon/Memphis games.
By Jimmy
March 27, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this
I disagree Judi. I want to see whichever game is most competetive. The last thing I want to see is an entire game of UNC routing WSU.
By bali
March 27, 2008 9:59 AM | Link to this
i just hope cbs will show as many games as possible. I hate it when they stay on blow out games too long. Great article concerning the sweet 16. Wish my bracketts did not look like french toast.
By jake
March 27, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this
Anyone know what time the elite 8 game in charlotte is?
By Martin
March 27, 2008 3:26 PM | Link to this
how about ucla’s josh shipp’s zero points against texas a&m? shipp was ucla’s third-leading scorer this year. no way they make a run if he keeps that up. come on bradley you’re better than that